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ADDRESS TO THE GRADUATING 
CLASS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS 
INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

By ARTHUR A. NOYES, Acting President 



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ADDRESS TO THE CiRADUATING CLASS OF THE 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Dfmvered June 8, 1908 
By Arthir a. Noyes, Actinc; Prksidknt* 

Friends of the Institute and of members of the Graduating 
Class: It is now to he mv privilege, as the representative 
of the Corporation, to confer in your presence the degrees 
of the Institute upon the various candidates whom the 
Faculty has recommended as worthy of that recognition. 

This Institute awards the four degrees of Doctor ot 
Philosophy, Doctor of Engineering, Master of Science, and 
Bachelor of Science. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
is this year to be conferred upon 3 candidates, that of 
Master of Science upon 12, and that of Bachelor of Science 
upon 229. 

Fhe degrees of Doctor of Philosoph\ and of P.ngineering 
are granted for the completion of two or three years of 
graduate work devoted to advanced studies in some branch 
of science or engineering and to an extensive original re- 
search in one of them. These degrees signify a highly 
developed power of pursuing scientific investigations inde- 
pendently and effectively. 

1 he degree of Master of Science is awarded for the con- 
tinuation of such professional studies as are included in 
the regular four-year courses through a fifth year. It repre- 
sents a larger professional knowledge and a more extensive 

♦ PrPTJousIv printrd in part in Tht Technology Review of July, 190S. 



training in the solution of scientific or engineering prob- 
lems than can be secured in the shorter period of study. 

The characteristics of the four-year courses leading to the 
degree of Bachelor of Science, which form the main part of 
the work of this Institute, I should like to describe to you 
somewhat more fully. These courses are not such as are 
given in technical schools of the narrower type, where the 
aim is to train men for some specific industry and where 
much time is devoted to the imparting of technical knowl- 
edge and skill. From its foundation the Institute has 
stood for the principle of higher education, now put in 
practice in all the better American universities, that the 
student be given a combination of a liberal education, such 
as every well-educated man should receive, with such pro- 
fessional training as will fit him for some high form of ser- 
vice to the community. The Institute aims, however, to 
accomplish this result by methods different from those fol- 
lowed by the universities. 

In the first place, while the Institute requires that a fair 
proportion of the student's work consist of the so-called 
humanistic studies, — of studies in English composition and 
literature, modern language, history, poHtical science, and 
economics, — yet its Courses are arranged so that these studies 
are pursued simultaneously with the professional work 
throughout nearly the whole period of study. On the 
university plan, however, the so-called liberal studies are 
completed in the college before the student begins his pro- 
fessional work, which is then carried on in the Graduate 
School. The Institute plan has the advantage that the 
student acquires from the start the earnestness and inter- 
est which the direct preparation for his Hfe-work naturally 
incites in the mind of a young man, who cannot thus early 
so well appreciate the important but less tangible results of 



general education; while, on the other hand, the general 
studies are continued and emphasized in their relation to 
the professional work throughout the whole course. 

In the second place, the Institute, far more than the 
academic college, lays stress upon scientific studies as an 
essential part of a liheral training. It has no sympathy 
with the idea that a man can he considered broadly edu- 
cated, whatever his knowledge of the classics or historx 
or literature, who is entirely ignorant of the chemical com- 
position and properties of the materials he daily deals with; 
who knows nothing of the elementar\ principles of me- 
chanics, heat, light, and electricity, which are constanth 
involved in the dailv experiences of modern life and in its 
important industrial operations; who looks nightly into 
the heavens, or observes the torms of land or water, sees 
the seasons come and go, watches the tides rise and fall, 
without knowing or caring to know the explanation of these 
phenomena. The Institute holds that a training in physi- 
cal and natural science, though not the onl\ essential part 
of education, is yet the chief factor in imparting a true cult- 
ure and an adaptation to the atiairs of lite. 

'IhirdU, the Institute considers the accjuireinenr ot 
knowledge of any kiiul whatever, whether literar\ or scien- 
tific or professional, far less important than the training 
of the mind in scientific thinking and scientific method. 
It aims not onl\ to impart a knowledge ot principles, but 
also to develop the faculties so that its graduates may be 
fitted to cope with and solve the great engineering and 
scientific problems of the day. Fo this end much of its 
instruction consists in this very thing, — the solving of prob- 
lems in the class-room, laboratory, and designing-rooms. 
The theses, some of which have been presented in abstract 
to you to-day, are only larger examples of this side of our 



work, which in the form of minor problems extends through- 
out the whole four years. With this end in view, also, we 
determine the standing of a student very largely by his term 
work rather than by his successs in a final examination, 
which too often depends on his ability to get up the subject 
by cramming. 

I might describe other characteristics of our Institute 
courses; but I beheve these statements will serve to show 
you the general character of the training which has been 
received by the candidates upon whom the degree is to-day 
to be conferred. I do not mean to imply that we have 
accomplished all these results in the case of these young men. 
We know that our teaching is imperfect in many ways and 
that our methods are capable of much improvement. It 
is also true that at best a four-year period is too short to 
realize all the results which I have mentioned. Yet what I 
have said will show you the directions in which we are 
working and the ideals toward which we are constantly 
striving; and it will enable you to appreciate better the 
kind of work in which these young men have been engaged. 
Let me now turn your attention to the candidates themselves. 

Members of the Graduating Class: I desire first of all to 
extend to you the hearty congratulations of the Corpora- 
tion and Faculty on the accomplishment of the result for 
which you have successfully striven. You are to be con- 
gratulated not so much because the diploma which I shall 
soon have the pleasure of presenting to each of you cer- 
tifies to the completion of a prescribed course of study, and 
to the acquirement of much liberal and professional knowl- 
edge, as because it implies the possession and development 
of certain quaHties of mind and character which are funda- 
mentally essential to the highest success in Hfe, — a wiUing- 
ness to subordinate the pursuit of pleasure to the fulfil- 



5 

ment of duties, a determination to accomplish in spite of" 
difficulties whatever has been dehberately undertaken, an 
integrity c)f mind which will not contentedlv, accept as final, 
imperfect or inexact results. The award to vou of the 
degree implies, too, that \()u ha\e formed sound habits of 
work that cannot fail to be of prime importance to you in 
your subsequent careers; for while the Institute curricu- 
lum is not so exacting as to preclude a reasonable partici- 
pation in the aflairs of student life, yet it demands that 
time and efi'ort be economicallv expended. There has 
been here no opportunity for that undue predominance of 
the physical and social activities over the intellectual which 
characterizes the student life of many colleges. As a former 
president said from this platform to a former graduating 
class, you are not now required to do "what is implied in 
that ominous phrase 'turning over a new leaf.' It is not 
now necessary for you to close a collegiate period of idle- 
ness, or frivolity, or dissipation with good resolutions of 
amendment and reformation for the future and with a deter- 
mination, now taken for the first time, to pursue \'()ur work 
with seriousness of purpose and with the aim of high accom- 
plishment." ^'ou have taken these resolutions long ago, 
and have alread\ developed the (jualities necessary for their 
fulfilment: else you would not be here to-day. It is only 
necessar) for you to continue in the wav that you have thus 
far pursued. 

It is true, you must continue to develop \()ur powers and 
faculties. You must not assume that vour education has 
been completed, '^'ou must regard it as only well begun. 
You must still employ every opportunity for self-improve- 
ment through reading, study, and participation in scientific 
societies. You must broaden and deepen your knowledge 
both on the cultural and professional sides, — on the former 



6 

side, so that you may strengthen your interests in the affairs 
of other men and broaden your view-point and sense of 
perspective; on the latter side, so that you may be more 
effective engineers, architects, or chemists. When you 
find in your professional work that you need more knowledge 
of an allied branch of engineering or of some related science, 
you must make the effort needed to master it. You have 
also got to acquire a vast amount of technical knowledge 
and practical experience. Realize this, so that you may 
not subject yourselves to the criticism sometimes made by 
employers, that technological graduates think they "know 
it all." 

It is, then, important for you to continue your education, 
— ^your own self-improvement. But with your graduation 
there comes upon you an entirely new obligation. Thus 
far you have been only developing your own powers. You 
are now called upon to use those powers for the service of 
your fellow-men. Your scientific training imposes on you 
a special obligation, because it opens to you special oppor- 
tunities. You can render important kinds of service which 
other men cannot render. You are to play a part of pecu- 
liar responsibility in our great industrial and commercial 
system. You are not to deal directly with its financial 
and mercantile aspects, but you are charged with its im- 
provement and further development through the introduc- 
tion of scientific methods and principles. 

Some of you, the civil and sanitary engineers and archi- 
tects among you, are to create new structures^ — new high- 
ways, bridges, subways, and tunnels for increasing the 
facilities of transportation, — new buildings of solid con- 
struction and artistic beauty, — new reservoirs, aqueducts, 
and sewers for the better sanitation of cities and the devel- 
opment of water power, — new vessels for coastwise and 



oceanic commerce. Others of \()U, the mechanical and 
electrical engineers, — are to provide for new powers either 
mechanical or electrical, devising and constructing machines 
for this purpose, for the saving of labor in the production 
of manufactured articles, for electric lighting, or for use in 
telephony. Still others of you, the chemists, electro- 
chemists, chemical engineers, mining engineers, and metal- 
lurgists, are to deal directly with the production of tie%u 
materials or of old materials b\' iirn' processes. You will 
all he expected to do ymv things; and \()U must therefore 
not be contented merely to carr\' on old things in the old 
way. One of your most important opportunities in this 
direction will be that of avoiding economic waste, — waste 
of power through imperfect machines, waste of materials 
through unscientific processes, waste of time and effort 
through inade(|uatc structures and transportation facilities. 
So you should be constantly on the alert to discover and to 
remedy such defects. 

Your training thus opens to you an unusual opportunity 
for service to the community. And service is the keynote 
of the spirit of this twentieth century. In politics the old 
idea, '* lo the victor belong the spoils," has given place to 
the principle that "public office is a public trust." In 
business it can no longer be said that "It is the day of the 
chattel, Web to weave and corn to jirind. That things are 
in the saddle. And ride mankind." A higher code of busi- 
ness ethics prevails: destructive competition is being re- 
placed by co-operative effort; corporations are endeavoring 
to render better public service and are giving their employees 
a fairer share of the profits; accumulated wealth is more 
and more being used for philanthropic ends. In education 
it is no longer thought sufficient to impart the social, literary, 
and artistic accomplishments of the gentleman, but every 



youth must be fitted for some form of service. In scientific 
research the dilettant investigator vs^ho pursues his studies 
only for his own pleasure rather than v^ith the definite pur- 
pose of contributing to the advancement of knowledge is 
no longer regarded with approbation. In religious teach- 
ing what has been called, "other-worldliness" is disap- 
pearing, — the hope of future reward or the fear of future 
punishment is no longer emphasized; and in the science of 
ethics the greatest happiness of the greatest number is no 
longer recognized as the fundamental postulate. In these 
two fields of thought, religious and ethical, the advance of 
science and especially of the knowledge of evolution has 
brought us to a clearer appreciation of our relation to the 
universe and to a higher conception of our obligations. 
It is no longer for our own ends, whether in this world or 
another, that we are to work. We realize that we are at 
an intermediate stage in the process of development. We 
know that ''man will grow from more to more,'' — that our 
present type is but the "herald of a higher race." With 
the poet "we doubt not through the ages one increasing 
purpose runs"; and we strive to further the accomplish- 
ment of that purpose, which, so far as we can understand 
it in relation to ourselves, has for its end the fuller devel- 
opment of manhood and of the human faculties. 

The question for each of you is therefore. How can you 
render the greatest service.^ If you follow this as your 
guiding principle, you need have no fear of failure in your 
life-work, even if it be judged from such other standpoints 
as the attainment of happiness, or of public recognition, or 
of personal influence. 

With these few words of congratulation and encourage- 
ment for the future, I enter upon the pleasant task of dis- 
tributing to you the diplomas of your graduation. 



9 

{The degrees ivere then conferred.^ 

It gives me now much pleasure to extend to you as Doctors, 
Masters, or Bachelors of Science the greetings of the Cor- 
poration and F'aculty and of your friends, and to assure you 
of the interest of your teachers in your future welfare and 
of their best wishes for success in the work you are soon 
to undertake. Of you we ask, in return, that you continue 
to give to the Institute your attention and support. We 
wish you fully to realize that upon you as alumni depends 
in large measure the continued success and development 
of this Institute, and that we count upon each of )'ou indi- 
vidually to do your parr in maintaining an active interest 
in its welfare. 

I here will always be a cordial welcome for you within 
these halls; and, in now saying a final farewell to you as a 
class, it is my hope that it may be only a temporary one to 
vou as individuals. 






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